[2] 
81 
the essential conditions of such an establishment. These conditions 
are, 1st. Security from winds. 2d. Security from ice. 3d. Security 
from an enemy. 
As to the first condition, if a position be taken at A, on the south-* 
ern margin of the Shears, it will be sufliciently under the lee of the 
main to be protected from all winds from S. E. by S. to W. (round 
by the S.) and by the shoal off Low-Plumb-Point and the Shears 
proper, it will be so much protected from winds bh>wing from W. 
to E. (round by the N.) that the profile of this part of the breakwa- 
ter may be made comparatively weak, and at small expense against 
winds from E. to S. E. by S. (South byl the breakwater alone must 
afford protection, and must be made proportionably strong. A 
breakwater so constructed here as to guard against winds, will also 
afford security against ice, and thereby fulfil the second condition. 
As to the 3d condition, however, it would be defective : the distance 
from the main is too great for it to be well defended by works upon 
the shore, and fortifications upon the spot itself would involve con- 
siderable expense. 
The condition of complete security from an enemy obliges us 
therefore to abandon this position, and to seek for one, not otherwise 
objectionable, nearer the shore. ' 
"Referring now to the plan marked B, just within the pitch of Cape 
Henlopen, it will be seen that a harbor there will be entirely shelter- 
ed from all winds from E. to W. N. W. (round by the S.) but, being 
distant from the Shears, will not be sensibly benefitted by the lee of 
that shoal, and, consequently, will require a strong breakwater 
against all winds from the other thirteen points of the compass. In 
this position, as in the other, the embankment against the w inds and 
waves may be so contrived as to give entire security from the ice, 
while its proximity to the shore will enable a fort, properly situated 
there, to protect it against all enterprises of an enemy. 
In the selection which, under all circumstances, the Commis- 
sion make of this last position B, for this artificial harbor, they 
adopt the hypothesis, that the expense, though great, will not be dis- 
proportionate to the magnitude of the benefits to result, in commons 
to the commerce of the nation, and to that of the Delaware; and 
the Commission cannot hesitate as to the correctness of the hypothesis. 
But it often happens that works of the utmost national importance, 
are necessarily postponed or neglected, for want of means in the go- 
vernment, or, that they are for the same reason, or because their suc- 
cess is half problematical, carried on slowly, or attempted but partially. 
From these considerations, in connexion with the gieat expense of 
a complete breakwater, the Commission have been induced to seek for 
some mode of securing a partial benefit, at a cost so moderate, as, 
under any circumstances, to warrant the undertaking. They the 
rather infer this to be their duty, from the small appropriation to the 
object in view, in the law of Congress which accompanied their in- 
structions. The Commission are not, however, to question the abili- 
ty, nor to judge of the disposition of the nation in this respectj but 
